Sleep diplomacy alone will widen sleep disparities – Authors' reply
Authors: Diego A Golombek, Laura Booi, Dominic Campbell, Walter D Dawson, Harris Eyre, Brian Lawlor, Agustiín Ibañez
Journal: The Lancet Healthy Longevity (2023)

Timothy Daly argues that pre-existing sleep disparities according to socioeconomic status will make behavioural approaches and lifestyle advice widen sleep disparities. Although we fully agree that strong public policy measures must be implemented to reduce socioeconomic status inequalities in brain health,1Ibanez A Legaz A Ruiz-Adame M Addressing the gaps between socioeconomic disparities and biological models of dementia.Brain. 2023; 2023awad236Google Scholar and in particular those that might impact sleep problems, there is good evidence reporting the success of behavioural interventions to improve sleep conditions in different populations.2Schneider LD Barakat A Ali Z Concepcion C Taylor JA Jiang A Pilot study of personalized sleep-coaching messages to promote healthy sleeping behaviors.Front Sleep. 2023; 11071822Crossref Google Scholar Specific interventions have been proposed in low-socioeconomic status populations, which should also be included in our sleep diplomacy3Golombek DA Booi L Campbell D et al.Sleep diplomacy: an approach to boosting global brain health.Lancet Healthy Longev. 2023; 4: e368-e370Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar category. As Rao and colleagues suggest, “the existence of very different barriers to healthy sleep across different contexts and even across individuals implies the need for a diverse set of sleep policy tools” and “research across all these different contexts is needed to guide policy”.4Rao G Redline S Schilbach F Schofield H Toma M Informing sleep policy through field experiments.Science. 2021; 374: 530-533Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar Simply waiting for full funding of initiatives without using affordable, available, and comprehensive strategies to improve sleep can potentially exacerbate these sleep-related socioeconomic inequalities. Like brain health diplomacy,5Dawson WD Bobrow K Ibanez A et al.The necessity of diplomacy in brain health.Lancet Neurol. 2020; 19: 972-974Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (15) Google Scholar sleep diplomacy incorporates science diplomacy, which integrates several disciplines that include economic and social considerations for sleep improvement. Each approach should be complementary and not interfere with one another. Without adequate data, information, and public policy initiatives (ie, without sleep diplomacy), we will not be able to decrease sleep inequalities. BL is Chair of Trial of Ondansetron as a Parkinson's HAllucinations Treatment, and Member of the World Dementia Council. AI has received grants from Takeda, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo de Chile, National Institutes of Health and the Fogarty International Center, National Institute on Aging, Tau Consortium, Alzheimer's Association, Rainwater Charitable Foundation, and Global Brain Health Institute. WDD has received grants from National Institute on Aging, Latin American Brain Health Institute, Oregon Health Authority, Portland State University Foundation. All other authors declare no competing interests. Sleep diplomacy: an approach to boosting global brain healthSleep diplomacy highlights the urgent need to address the widespread issue of sleep deprivation and its detrimental effects on overall health, particularly brain health and healthy ageing. By providing practical advice on sleep hygiene, healthy schedules, and light exposure, sleep diplomacy aims to promote a comprehensive approach to well-being. Despite the well-established importance of sleep for optimal cognitive function, emotional regulation, and physical abilities, it is often neglected in public and medical recommendations. Full-Text PDF Open Access